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Study of microcredit finds generally positive, but not transformative, impacts

By Guest PostMay 16, 2013Economyanti poverty initiatives, bank, bill, central mexico, compartamos banco, credito mujer, dartmouth college, dean karlan, economist, grameen bank, jonathan zinman, manuela angelucci, market capitalization, melinda gates foundation, Mexico, microcredit, microcredit program, muhammad yunus, nobel peace prize, poverty, poverty action, sonora state, ultra poor, university of michigan, yale university

Microcredit generally benefits borrowers, according to new research focused on Mexico’s biggest for-profit microlender — but it’s not lifting people out of poverty.

In a multi-year, randomized evaluation of microloans provided by Compartamos Banco, Yale University economist Dean Karlan, with collaborators Manuela Angelucci of the University of Michigan and Jonathan Zinman of Dartmouth College, show there are generally positive effects on average and find little evidence that some borrowers end up worse off while others end up better off. However, the canonical story that microcredit leads to higher enterprise income did not bear fruit. (more…)

Witch Hunts Targeted by Grassroots Women’s Groups

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2012Culture, Economy, Generalalcoholism, anuradha chakravarty, basanti, chicken eggs, culture, disease, domestic abuse, economic, factor, gender equality, government, grassroots movement, India, jalpaiguri, livestock, loan, loan program, michigan, microcredit, microcredit group, native india, plantation worker, practice, self help, social movement, sociologist, soma chaudhuri, state university, stomach illness, tea plantation, tradition, tribal people, village, witch, witch hunts, witchcraft, women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Witch hunts are common and sometimes deadly in the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri, India. But a surprising source – small groups of women who meet through a government loan program – has achieved some success in preventing the longstanding practice, a Michigan State University sociologist found.

Soma Chaudhuri spent seven months studying witch hunts in her native India and discovered that the economic self-help groups have made it part of their agenda to defend their fellow plantation workers against the hunts. (more…)

Crowd Funding on Campus: UW Scientists Raise Money for Research Online

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2012Education, Environment, Science, Technologyacidification, alaska, cindy wu, climate change, crowdsourcing, david eaton, dee boersma, denny luan, Environment, internet, karen boenker, kickstarter, kiki jenkins, lauren kuehne, microcredit, microryza, new york, online campaign, pacific oysters, petridish, rachel aronson, rockethub, university of washington

When Rachel Aronson travels this month to Alaska, she and a local research assistant will interview people who are in danger of being displaced by climate change. She will also send about 100 postcards to her funders.

Aronson is among a growing number of University of Washington students, faculty and staff who are using online campaigns to pay for their research. Crowdsourcing uses the Internet to broadcast a question and pool the answers; crowd funding uses the Internet to post an idea and ask people to pony up money to make it a reality. (more…)

The Downside and Surprising Upside of Microcredit

By Guest PostJune 12, 2011Economyhow microcredit works, impacts of microcredit, microcredit, microcredit lending, microcredit ventures, small business, study of microloans

Microcredit, which involves giving small loans to very small businesses in an effort to promote entrepreneurship, has been widely touted as a way to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth. A multitude of both non- and for-profit institutions are spending billions of dollars each year on microcredit ventures in developing nations around the globe. (more…)

Q&A: Seeking “Real World” Solutions to Global Poverty

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2011Economybehavioral economics, brick and mortar, combat poverty, dean karlan, development economists, gates foundation, ghana, global poverty, innovations for poverty action, ipa, jacob appel, jordan goldberg, malawi, Mali, microcredit, microfinance, mobile money, uganda, wealthy nations, yale economist

In discussions of how best to solve global poverty, helping the 3 billion people living on less than $2.50 per day, development economists tend to fall into one of two camps.

One camp claims that wealthy nations contribute too few dollars to combat poverty. The other camp counters that money doesn’t guarantee poverty alleviation, and points to the $2.3 trillion spent in foreign aid over the past 50 years as evidence that throwing money at the problem won’t solve it. Despite their differences, both groups agree that some types of development interventions work better than others. (more…)

Tag Archives: microcredit

Study of microcredit finds generally positive, but not transformative, impacts

Witch Hunts Targeted by Grassroots Women’s Groups

Crowd Funding on Campus: UW Scientists Raise Money for Research Online

The Downside and Surprising Upside of Microcredit

Q&A: Seeking “Real World” Solutions to Global Poverty